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Mar
23

Happy Hunger Games

By | Family, In the Life

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I love a good story.

Drama. Action. Romantic comedy. Tragedy.  Fiction or non-fiction.  It doesn’t really matter.

We communicate through stories, and the best stories can connect perfect strangers in ways conversation or common ground never could.

Last night I had the opportunity to attend the midnight release of The Hunger Games.  I’ve read the series, and I have been looking forward to the movie since I first saw the preview several weeks ago.

There were seven nearly-sold-out screens at the local theater.  I was surrounded by teenagers and adults alike.  The majority of us had read the books, and several people were even wearing t-shirts and costumes in honor of the film.

These were people I’d never met – some of whom I’ll never see again – yet we shared something last night. [Read more...]

Mar
19

Once Upon a Time

By | Development, Family, Focus, In the Life

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When I was 6, I wanted to be an architect.

I loved drawing, enjoyed visiting cool buildings, and had the odd drive to be a part of something bigger.  I checked books out from the library, talked up the idea with adults, and even took a crack at drawing up blueprints for the first house I’d build.

Needless to say, that didn’t quite work out.

As I grew up, my interests changed.  I tried my hand at CAD in middle school, but couldn’t figure out the complex interfaces.  Since everyone told me using a CAD system was essential for architecture, I gave up on that dream and grabbed hold of others.

My favorite high school teachers taught science, so I spent all of my time trying to figure out how the world worked.  Much to my parents’ dismay, I even brought experiments home from time to time 1.

Originally I wanted to work in the space program for NASA. I even applied for internships and chose a physics major in college for that purpose.  Eventually, I changed gears and wanted to teach.  Then I wanted to work in a lab.  Then I gave up on that entirely and went back to school for a second degree in political science.

I found I liked telling stories more than anything, so I studied marketing in business school and walked away with a masters degree in international management. [Read more...]

Notes:

  1. The first time I tried dividing water into hydrogen and oxygen in the living room resulted in several awkward parent-teacher meetings. ↩
Feb
29

What Goes Around …

By | Development, Focus, In the Life

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I’m not a formally-trained developer.  I might write software for a living now, but I got my start by copy-pasting code from Google searches into Microsoft Frontpage back in the day.

I know. Embarassing.

In grad school I finally took the time to research what other tools were available.  I discovered WordPress.  I was somewhat ecstatic.

Unfortunately, WP didn’t do everything I wanted it to do.  Certain features I needed were missing, others were buggy.  I somewhat despise traditional forums as a means of support, so I was grasping at straws for months trying to figure out how to make things work the way I wanted.

I started teaching myself PHP by hacking core files directly.  I didn’t understand actions and filters at the time, so this was the only way I knew how to make WordPress “behave.”  Those of you active in the community now know my opinion of people who hack core … :-)

I discovered Trac and the WP Hackers list and eventually got over my disdain for the forums.  My first year with WordPress was pretty active.  But just about none of my activity in the community was on the positive side. [Read more...]

Oct
27

No Really, You Shouldn’t Have

By | Branding, Focus, In the Life, Marketing

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Best Buy Promotion

My birthday is in a couple of weeks.  We have a tradition in my family where you’re not allowed to buy yourself anything during the month leading up to a birthday, so I’ve been hurriedly adding things to my Amazon.com wish list for most of this month.  The last time I broke that rule, my brothers swore they’d never buy me anything again (apparently they’d already picked up and wrapped a CD I bought myself the weekend before my 18th birthday).

Luckily, this family rule also helps me avoid a lot of promotional advertising leading up to my birthday.  Different restaurants I frequent will send me gift vouchers – my favorite pub (sadly, it’s now closed) used to send me a certificate for a free drink.  I get cards from financial advisors, courtesy phone calls from the guy who changes my oil, and once even a thank you note and Starbucks gift card from a client.

Everyone seems to know when my birthday is coming, and everyone who likes me to spend money hopes to earn my business by being extra nice and offering me a special, timely discount.

Today, though, a particular company did the exact opposite.  In my inbox was an advertisement from Best Buy.  You know, the big-box electronics retailer that I don’t buy big ticket items from because their service department kinda sucks?  Yeah, them.  Apparently my one or two DVD purchases last year has kept me high enough on their radar to warrant a special offer.

They’re inviting me to give them money to celebrate my birthday!

Exciting, huh?  Not a discount.  Not a freebie.  Not even a personalized birthday card.  But an invitation to spend more money in exchange for triple to quadruple points on whatever I buy.

For the record – you normally get 1 point for every $1 you spend.  And since it takes 250 points to get a $5 coupon back, I need to spend between … $62 to $80 just to save $5.

Not so enticing a deal when you put it that way, is it?

If I were in the market for a new LCD display, a new printer, or a new PC this might seem like a stellar deal.  But since I never buy anything that expensive the few weeks leading up to my birthday, it’s not likely.

Here’s the thing.  Best Buy is trying to appeal to my spoiled sense of self-importance.  They’re sending me an email to wish me a happy birthday and offer me a special deal to convince me that I stick out from the crowd.  They know I use reward points because they track my purchasing behavior through my rewards card.

But then they fall short.

Rewards cards, club cards, priority cards.  They exist to give the vendor a better idea of who you are.  It’s a decentralized, corporate model for relationship building – by tracking my purchases, the company can better predict what I’ll purchase in the future, when I’ll spend a lot of money, and to which advertisements I’ll be likely to respond.

Obviously, Best Buy isn’t using their cards this way.  No personalized shopping recommendations accompanied the email.  No personalized notes.  No we-know-you-and-earnestly-want-to-celebrate-your-birthday sentiment.

The entire email reads as yet another corporate attempt to trick me into shelling out my hard-earned cash for something I don’t actually need.  Which is a bit sad, really.

I thought marketing and consumer relations had come a bit farther than this …

Sep
02

Ambassadorship

By | Focus, In the Life, Marketing

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Never forget that every single one of your employees is a brand ambassador.  They speak for your brand to other employees, they represent your brand at the front desk of the office, and anything they do in public off the clock reflects on your brand as well.  This is what makes brand training vital for everyone, even the restaurant kitchen staff.

Case In Point

Last night I had a business meeting at Pasta Pronto.  We met in a restaurant, rather than Starbucks, because it was around dinner time and we knew we’d all be starving.  I arrived a few minutes early so I could order and set up … but having never dined at Pasta Pronto before, I had no idea what to order.

I walked in and was immediately greeted by one of the employees.

“Hi, I’ve never eaten here before and don’t know your menu. So what’s your best meal or special right now?”

This should have been an easy question.  Anyone who works in retail or customer service typically has the day’s deals and specials memorized.  Often times, they’re written on a board behind the counter and easy to reference.  But when a customer walks in asking you to sell them something … it’s usually a dead giveaway that they’re open to a sales pitch.

“Um … well … here’s our menu.  We have …”

Then she took 10 minutes and started reading the entire menu out loud to me.

Seriously. [Read more...]

May
09

A New To-Do Item

By | Archival, In the Life

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Some time ago, I posted an update explaining how I would be expanding my personal blogging network.  I’m proud to inform you that, as of this week, my latest site is now live, active, and containing new content.

To keep my faith-related content separate from the business, outdoors, and technology stuff, I’ve started Grounded Christianity.  The site design is still very much in flux, but you can expect to find the same articles on religion there that you used to find scattered about here.  In fact, the entire “faith” category from this site has been migrated to that one.  Old links will redirect you, but new religious and faith-related content will now appear over there.

This is the first step among many to build what some have dubbed “The Eric Mann Webring.”  Hopefully it won’t end up that cheesy, but we’ll see where things go from here.

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